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Finding a better way to notify doctors when an order is made

This post is sponsored by Sprint and is the last article in a 12-part series […]

This post is sponsored by Sprint and is the last article in a 12-part series on mobilizing healthcare for improved communication.

From lab results to medication orders, there’s a tremendous amount of data that clinical providers need to sift through to find relevant information, said James Webb, vice president of strategic accounts for Mobile Heartbeat, which provides smartphone applications for improving clinical workflow and team communications.1 This problem has sparked conversations about how patient data is displayed to and viewed by clinicians – and how it can be improved.1

At the moment, doctors can only find information quickly if they know exactly what to look for, Webb said.1 When patient information is entered into an electronic medical record system without the doctor being notified, it might take the doctor an hour or more to get to a computer to view it.1 And if the patient needs a nurse’s attention, the doctor must page the nurse and wait for a call back.1 All of this means a simple task can take two to three hours.1

One way to improve this tedious process is to send doctors push notifications for relevant information – such as orders that are entered and items that need action -instead of them having to parse through everything, Webb said.1 If the notification came directly to the doctor’s smartphone, rather than a computer on the other end of the hospital wing, the doctor could view the information instantly and easily communicate with whoever entered it.1 The doctor could immediately call the nurse and go see the patient.1 Now the task would take all of 10 minutes, instead of two hours.1

The key, Webb said, is instant access to communication with the dynamic care team.1

The trick, of course, is not pushing so much information to doctors that their smartphones become just another distraction, Webb said.1 Limiting push notification to important items that need action, such as STAT orders, would ensure that clinicians are only interrupted by the most urgent tasks.1

It’s important to note that at no point would push notifications replace the electronic medical record, which is still the record of choice, Webb said.1 But we no longer want clinicians receiving time-sapping notifications that don’t provide them any information other than to go to a computer and launch the EMR.1 “You want a notification that you can click on and there you are,” Webb said.1

While it’s easy to see the improvement push notifications could make to a doctor’s workflow, Webb said, it could also improve patient care.1 When orders are acted on more quickly, reducing the time between notification and action, patients are more satisfied.1

Read the earlier articles in this series:

The value of communication coordination among the care team

What are the best ways to handle care transitions?

The communication pitfalls of multidisciplinary approaches to treating patients

The five worst things about being a doctor (from a tech perspective)

5 best smartphone advances for doctors in the past 5 years

The pros and cons of BYOD (bring your own device)  

The problems with charging racks and shared computers in hospitals

Mobile Heartbeat provides comprehensive solution to clinicians’ communication needs  

How getting the right information quickly can minimize risk in a clinical setting

A better solution for alarm fatigue in clinicians

4 reasons why the time isn’t right – yet – for voice recognition software on smartphones in hospitals

                                                                                                                                                   

1. James Webb granted permission for all of his direct quotes and indirect quotes to be used in this article. Interview date: Feb. 5, 2015.

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